Dreamworld
by AgentT
Summary: Darien wakes up to find that he is dead....is it reality?
1. Dreamworld

  
  
Darien sat up with a start. He blinked for a few seconds before his mind registered his surroundings. He was in his usual spot in the lab. He glanced around and saw that no one was there. Getting up, he reached for his jacket and-slipped right through it. He reached back in surprise. He turned and went back to the chair. He put his hand on it and it went through again, as if it was just air. He could see his hand through the other side of the chair. Darien shook his head.   
  
"I must be dreaming." He muttered, and went to the door. He cocked his head and stepped through it.   
  
"It's been hard on us all." Hobbes said softly. He was sitting in the Fish & Game office, The Keeper sitting in one of the other leather chairs.   
  
Darien walked in. "Oh damn." He said. He bent down until he was face to face with the Keeper. "Oh damn." He repeated. Her eyes were red, contrasting with her usually fair skin.   
  
"Hobbes?" He asked, waving a hand over his friend's face. The man did nothing.   
  
"What the hell is going on?" Darien said.   
  
"The point now is to move on." The Official said. "We will begin research again and we will move on."   
  
"Sure. Sure we will." Hobbes said.   
  
Darien walked to him. "Hello? What's going on? You can't see me. Great."   
  
"I can't believe he's dead." The Keeper said. She sniffled. "And I was beginning to like him."   
  
"Him? Who's him?" Darien shouted, confident that no one could hear or see him.   
  
"I will file the necessary reports." Eberts said. He picked up a manila file and started to walk across the room to file it. Darien walked beside him and glanced at the file. What he saw made his blood run cold.   
  
"Darien Fawkes: Deceased."   
  
Part 1   
  
"Where is he?" Hobbes asked. The Keeper looked up from her microscope and shrugged.   
  
"I have no idea where he is. Have you tried his apartment?" She asked, her voice muffled by the microscope.   
  
Hobbes nodded. "I've tried everything. Where the hell is he?"   
  
The Official sighed. "Well, we don't know where he is and he needs an injection in 2 days." Hobbes stood up and started toward the door of the office. The he stopped.   
  
"We'll find him. I'm sure he just needed to get away for a few hours. He'll show." Hobbes hoped that he sounded more assuring than he really was. The truth is, as much as Fawkes was his friend, he also knew the danger in a guy like him. He knew that he had the capability to bolt at any second. And he knew about the fear that existed in his own heart that one day, Darien Fawkes would not give a damn about the counteragent.   
  
"Stop pacing. You're wearing out a track." The Keeper said.   
  
Hobbes stopped. "It's cement."   
  
"Still. Stop pacing. You're making me nervous." She said, returning to her specimen and leaving Hobbes to pace on the cement that was her lab.   
  
  
Darien paced. He ran a hand through his thick hair and shook his head. "What the hell is going on?" He said. He found that while he could sit in chairs and such, he could not hold anything. Anything he touched seemed to be nonexistent. His hand would just pass right through. Darien stopped.   
  
"Nah, it can't be." He started pacing again. Then he stopped. "Am I really a ghost?"   
  
He shook his head and sat down on his bed. "I'm dead." He said, as if registering it for the first time. "I died? Geez, I thought people were supposed to be there for their own deaths. I learned about mine reading off an upside down file."   
  
Darien closed his eyes. He suddenly felt very weary and very tired. He buried himself under the covers and fell into a deep sleep.   
  
  
  
"He's not here." Hobbes said. "Where could he be?"   
  
"He'll turn up. He probably just needed a few hours of sleep." The Keeper watched her rat for a second before making a note on a notepad.   
  
"Yeah, that's it. He just needed some shut-eye." Bobby Hobbes stopped. "Hey, what happened to Hobbes?"   
  
The Keeper looked up. Her face was blank. "What?"   
  
"Hobbes. The rat." He gestured at an empty cage.   
  
"Oh. Well, um. Sorry, he had a bit of an accident." She frowned and offered an apology.   
  
"It's all right. Poor rodent." Hobbes silently left the lab.   
  
"At this point, I'm sending you to look for him." The Official said.   
  
"Don't have to ask me twice." Hobbes said hurriedly, already making his way to the door. "When I find that son of a-"   
  
"Wait, Hobbes."   
  
He spun around.   
  
"Eberts here is going with you." The Official sat down and sipped his coffee.   
  
"He is?" Hobbes said.   
  
"I am?" Eberts asked.   
  
"Yes, he is." The Official said. Eberts had a worried look on his face as they exited the room.   
  
  
Hobbes and Eberts walked up the flight of stairs to Fawkes' apartment. Eberts couldn't help but be nervous and Hobbes was struggling with his inner self not to take his frustration out on an unsuspecting Ebert.   
  
"Hey Fawkes?" Hobbes knocked on the door. "You there?"   
  
Hobbes shook his head and turned the doorknob. He frowned as the door opened a crack. He glanced at Eberts, who was tapping his foot. Hobbes nodded to Eberts and he shook his head, insisting that Hobbes go into the apartment.  
  
"Hey Fawkes, where have you been? Not answering the phone, I see." Hobbes said when he saw Darien lying in bed. "Are you feeling all right?"   
  
Darien blinked. His vision was blurry. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear the fog. "Hobbes?" He said.   
  
"Hey, you weren't answering your phone." Hobbes said. He turned to pick it up.   
  
Darien got out of bed. "I must've been dreaming." He said. He went to tap Hobbes on the shoulder and his hand passed through him. His eyes went wide.   
  
"Hobbes?' He asked. The man didn't turn. Darien waved his arms in front of Hobbes.   
  
"Fawkes, I don't know what this phone did to deserve your abuse, but-" Bobby Hobbes turned and stopped his sentence. "Fawkes? Hey, come on. Where are you?" He put the phone back on the table and looked around. "Stop joking around."   
  
"What is going on?" Darien said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hobbes standing at the foot of the bed. He was bent over, looking at the rat Darien had rescued from The Keeper.   
  
"I don't suppose you know where Fawkes is?" Hobbes said. The rat just squeaked and continued to nibble on its food pellet. "Of course not. You're a rodent."   
  
Hobbes looked up and walked out the door. He turned to Eberts. "Did you see Fawkes?"   
  
Eberts shook his head. "I didn't look."   
  
Hobbes took one last look inside and closed the door. "Let's go."   
  
Darien stood by the window, watching Hobbes and Ebert exit the building. He watched them get into the van and leave. "Hang on, Hobbes. I'm gonna find out what happened."   
  
He closed his eyes for a second before opening them again. He cast a grim look at the rat before walking across the room. He reached for the doorknob. Then Darien stopped and sighed. He paused and then stepped straight through the door. "Guess I'll have to get used to doing this." He said.   
  



	2. Dreamworld

Part 2  
  
The Keeper looked up from her work. Her mind kept drifting back to the night it happened. She didn't know him well, and he didn't even know her name, but there was a patient-doctor closeness she felt. Actually, it was more like lab rat-doctor type of relationship. Her eyes fell to the quarantine where she kept the counteragent.   
  
"Hello." The Official said from the door. She turned around. "Maybe you should go home." He said.   
  
"I don't know. Maybe I should." She said, turning off a light. She took her coat off the back of the chair and left him standing in the lab.   
  
"Hey." Hobbes said as The Keeper walked past him. "Are you all right?"   
  
She shook her head. "Not really."   
  
"I have a feeling that he's here." Hobbes said. "That he really isn't gone, he's here. Floating around, probably stealing wallets." He attempted to laugh but stopped when he realized he couldn't.   
  
"I feel like he's here too. Like he'll just walk through the door and it'll be another normal day." She said. "It's funny. I never thought I'd care this much."   
  
Hobbes shook his head. "Neither did I. Or anyone else for that matter."   
  
Darien could not believe it. "Guys? I'm not dead!" He exclaimed. "What's the use? They can't see or hear me." His face suddenly showed deep thought. 'Wait a minute. Back at the apartment, Hobbes could see me. He saw me. I was sleeping and-" Then it dawned on him.   
  
Darien raced down to the lab and sat down. "Okay." He said out loud. "I'm not dead. But they think I am. Hobbes went into my apartment to find me. But why did he do that if I was dead?" He squinted in confusion. His mind went back to that morning, when he woke up in the lab chair and he found that he passed through everything. He went to the office and it was then that he discovered that he was dead. Or that was what everyone thought. Then he went back to the apartment and Hobbes came in, looking for him.   
  
"And he actually saw me." Darien said. "He saw me sleeping. Which means that…he can see me when I'm sleeping." He shook his head. "This doesn't make well for communication." Darien groaned in frustration and left.   
  
  
"It's not stress." Hobbes said.   
  
"Are you sure? You have been pretty stressed lately." The Keeper said. "I suggest you take a break."   
  
Hobbes began to pace. She shot him a disapproving look and he stopped. "It's not stress. I'm telling you, I saw him. I was in the room and he was sleeping. I saw him. I turned back around and he was gone."   
  
"Maybe he quick silvered." She said.   
  
He shook his head. "Why would he do that?"   
  
"I don't know. Are you positive that you saw him? Did Eberts see him?" She asked.   
  
"No, he wasn't looking."   
  
"Look. Maybe it was just stress. He hasn't been here the whole day; you're probably just worried. Get some sleep."   
  
"Bobby Hobbes, worried? I don't think so." Hobbes kept his bravado up. "But what if Fawkes is really in trouble?"   
  
"I'm sure he isn't. He just needed a break. A small vacation. He's probably holed up in some bar hitting on the waitresses." She smiled.   
  
Hobbes laughed silently to himself. He left the lab and decided to go home. The Keeper was right about one thing though, he did need some sleep. As he shuffled away, Darien Fawkes walked with him, his expression thoughtful and concentrated.   
  
  
Darien sat up and rubbed his eyes. He had seen Hobbes. Walking down the hall, his face was grim and tired. His eyes were dark and they seemed old. Darien shook his head as if to clear the fog. He put his shoes on and silently walked out of his room.   
  
Part 3  
  
Darien Fawkes had been worried for his life many times. When he was in jail. When he was in court. When he was robbing a house and he knew that there could be a gun pointed at him at any time. But he had never been more fearful for his life than now. Or rather, his lack of a life since he was either dead or missing.   
  
"I sleep and I have dreams that I'm dead." He said. He paced in the lab, the only place that he wanted to go to. If there was any chance that he could communicate, he'd go to the blonde. As much as Bobby Hobbes was his friend, Darien didn't need a friend right now. Well, actually he did, but The Keeper was a friend too, right? And he needed a logical deductive mind. Someone who would be able to think on their feet and come to a conclusion without brushing it off as crazy talk.   
  
"I'm awake, I'm missing." He said, continuing to pace. "So the million-dollar question is, would you rather be dead or missing?"   
  
The answer of course, was "neither". But Darien didn't have that choice right now. In fact, he was both.   
  
"What is going on here?" He shook his head. "Okay, Darien. Think. Uh, what could cause this? Maybe it's one of those government experiments. Sure, I've been taken into another dimension outside of space and time by white coats."   
  
Darien sighed in frustration. He closed his eyes to try to clear his head. As he was about to, his eyes fell on The Keeper's briefcase. He frowned. She would never leave her briefcase here, he thought. And further more, it was open. And there was a sheet of paper lying in it. The surface had been hastily scribbled on, a jumble of handwriting and tearstains.  
  
Darien smiled. "I knew she was smart." He read to himself the letter she had written.   
  
Dear Darien,   
  
I know you're there. I know you're reading this right now. I know that you're not missing. I know exactly where you are and I'm determined to get you out of your present state. No one else believes me. Not even Hobbes. And to think, I'm the doctor who told him it was just stress and that you'd turn up. What I do to save him from a bit more insanity. What happened to you, I cant really explain. Lets just say something happened in the lab one morning. Since you were the only one in the lab when it happened, the government has done what it has done best for over 50 years: cover it up. Everyone was told that you had made a decision to leave the agency and that someone like you would never care about anyone else. The details don't matter. The point is, nothing fit together right. And I started to suspect something. Obviously, I was thought of as a nutcase. But deep down, I knew you weren't missing. I knew that you were out there. So I did a little digging. As many times as I have told you to stop being so ego-centric, this time, you have a right to be. Not everyone enjoys the company of the invisible man. The CIA apparently thinks of you as a risk to national security. They don't see you as a good thing. So they decided to set up their little accident in my lab. They've been working on a project for months to keep you out of their way. I don't know exactly how they did it, but it had something to do with your counteragent. I'm sure you think I'm a nutcase too. I knew you would come here. That's why I left the note here. You have to find a way to contact me. I don't know what you can do or can't do. Please, try to find a way to contact me. Get rid of this message if you can….  
  
  
The Keeper   
  
Ps: my name is Claire….just thought you'd like to know.   
  
Darien blinked, as if realizing for the first time that he hadn't since he found the letter. Two words escaped his mouth. It was all that he could manage.   
  
"Oh crap."   
  
  
Part 4   
  
Darien had suddenly widened his perspective. Now that he had more than one option, he set his mind on contacting the doctor. He sat on the lab chair, pondering the letter. From what he understood of his present, apparently government-induced condition, his only method in contact laid in sleep.   
  
"I will never complain about the lack of sleep again." He promised. Hoping that the keeper would return soon, he settled down in the chair and dozed off.   
  
In his dreams, Darien could see everyone. It was as vivid as if he were awake. And that was what scared him the most. Not knowing whether he was dreaming or if he was in the real world, it frightened him. In his dreams, he saw everyone. They were all together in a small clearing, their faces grim and stony.   
  
Darien sat down and watched them. He watched them look at each other and then down at a small slab of marble. Darien's eyes widened at the scene that laid before him. His name was carved into the white marble slab, a simple pattern of grief. Colorful wildflowers surrounded the grave where he was supposedly buried.   
  
Darien looked away. "Damn." He muttered. Even if it wasn't real, it was him buried 6 feet under dirt and muck. It was him they thought was dead. 'So what did they really think of me?' He pondered. He wondered if any of them had liked him at all. He could call Hobbes a friend and maybe the Keeper too, but in the end, he felt alone. He wondered if that was what would really happen if he were to die? How would they move forward? Would they be as sad to see me go or more sad to see the gland go?   
  
Hobbes stepped up to the grave. "Goodbye, Buddy." He said. His eyes were weary and tired. 'He hasn't slept' noted Darien. The Keeper wiped away a stray tear and left a bouquet of flowers.   
  
"This is touching, really." Darien said. Instead of sadness, anger was beginning to fill up inside him. He could not and would not accept that he was dead.   
  
Darien grunted in frustration as he kicked the dirt off the grave. He looked up to see the stunned and scared expressions on his friends' faces as they saw the unseen force rip layer after layer of earth. He dug until he came to a wood coffin.   
  
"At least it's nice." He said when he saw the shiny maple. He ripped it open, blinking in surprised confusion as he suddenly realized that his hands didn't pass through the wood. He laughed when he saw that the coffin was empty. It was a bed of white satin. No body.   
  
A hand tapped him on the shoulder. Darien turned and saw himself staring down at him.   
  
"Who's the one standing 6 feet under?" His double said. He smiled and Darien stumbled back. His foot hit the coffin and he fell into it. His double laughed and slammed the coffin shut. Darien pounded on the lid with no effect.   
  
"Who are you?" He shouted.   
  
"I'm you. That's obvious." His own voice replied. Darien felt the weight of mud and earth being shoveled down onto the coffin. His fists pounded until they were red. Darien tried to kick it open. It was like the coffin was air-sealed.   
  
"Have a nice night." His double said. Darien gasped for air. It was running out at an fast rate. Darien had a thought of his own tombstone, shining in the sun. Then everything went black.   



	3. Dreamworld

Part 5   
  
"Is he all right?" A muffled voice asked.   
  
"Do you mean that or are you talking about the gland?" A female voice answered.   
  
"Really, how is he?"   
  
Black turned to glaring white. Darien shut his eyes.   
  
The Keeper sighed and handed The Official a manila file. "He's fine. Physically fine. I don't know about when he wakes up though." She said.   
  
They all understood the shocking reality. While she had assuredly said "when" they all knew the chances of "when" actually becoming fact. "If" was more like it.   
  
"Aren't you going to waste a good surprise on me?" An exhausted voice quietly spoke up. The and The both twirled around in shock.   
  
"Darien." She said, rushing over to him. "Are you feeling all right?"   
  
"Yeah. Dandy. Just tired. What happened?" He said, sitting up. He stopped when a pain in his back escalated.   
  
"You don't remember?" The Official asked. Darien shook his head.   
  
"A week ago, you and Hobbes were sent on a case to retrieve a set of stolen CIA documents. You tracked them down to a terrorist facility which was wired to blow. You're lucky that you survived." The Official said.   
  
"Where's Hobbes?" Darien asked immediately. Darien started to get out but a stabbing pain his neck prevented him to do so.   
  
"Don't worry. Sit." The doctor said quickly.   
  
"No arguing from me." Darien said, sitting back again.   
  
"Hobbes is fine. He sustained minor injuries but he's all right. He's at home. We've already called him."   
  
"How long have I been out?" Darien asked, wincing at what the answer might be.   
  
"About 4 days." The Official said. "I want you to take a week off and rest."   
  
"Sure." Darien said as the old man turned and left.   
  
He looked at the doctor. "You know, I had the strangest dream." He said.   
  
She smiled. "I would think so. I'm giving you some medication. It'll make you a bit drowsy so you should get some rest. You need it." She pulled the needle out of his arm and left to write some notes.   
  
"Darien boy, you've been watching too many horror movies." He said to himself. Then he frowned. "Claire." He muttered. He shook his head. "Nah."   
  
Instead of following doctor's orders, Darien lifted himself off the bed and swung his legs over the side. He got up and stretched, ignoring the pain. The medication had really helped. His pain was only a small discomfort.   
  
Darien rubbed his eyes and looked around. He saw his clothes lying on a chair in the corner of the room. He walked over to the chair, thinking he'd change and find Hobbes. 'I'm sure he'd be happy to see me' he thought. He reached down to pick his shirt up.   
  
His hand passed right through it.   
  
"Oh crap."   
  



	4. Dreamworld

  
  
Epilogue  
  
The Keeper shrugged and looked at a still figure lying on the bed. "Who knows when he'll wake up."  
  
"Thank you, Doctor." The Official nodded to her and left.   
  
Hobbes got up from his chair. "If I had only stopped him from going in." He muttered.   
  
"It was his decision. He wanted to go in. you couldn't stop him if you wanted to." She assured him. Hobbes was not convinced.   
  
"I wonder what he's thinking." She frowned.   
  
"Probably about how to beat us all with a stick for looking through his stuff." Hobbes said with a small smile. He nodded silently as if in a gesture of closure and walked out of the room. The Keeper smiled sadly and made a few notes on a clipboard. She put it back in it's slot and left the room.   
  
On the bed, Darien Fawkes drifted in his comatose abyss, his body still and quiet.   
  
  



End file.
